JP7673183B2 - System Having Display and Sensor Concealment Structure - Patent application - Google Patents

Description

This application relates generally to electronic devices, and more specifically to electronic devices such as head-mounted devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/081,225, filed September 21, 2020, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

Electronic devices, such as head-mounted devices, may have input/output components. The input/output components may include components such as displays and sensors.

The head-mounted device may have a head-mounted support structure. A rear display may present an image to an eyebox at the rear of the head-mounted support structure. A front publicly viewable display may be supported on the front side of the head-mounted support structure facing away from the rear display.

The front display may have pixels forming an active area where an image is displayed, and may have a ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the pixels. A display cover layer may overlay the active and inactive areas.

Optical components can operate through the cover layer in the inactive area. The optical components can include a flicker sensor, an ambient light sensor, a camera, a three-dimensional image sensor such as a structured light three-dimensional sensor and a time-of-flight three-dimensional image sensor, and an infrared illumination system configured to provide infrared illumination for the tracking camera in dim ambient lighting conditions.

A cosmetic cover structure, such as a ring-shaped shroud, can overlay the optical components in the non-active area. The ring-shaped shroud can be attached adjacent to the display cover layer in the non-active area.

The optical components may be received within the through-hole openings of the shroud and/or may operate through a transparent portion of the shroud. The transparent portion may be formed from a polymeric material within the shroud, from a window member such as a glass member inserted into a window opening in the shroud, and/or from other transparent structures. A coating may be formed on the portion of the shroud that overlaps the optical components to help hide the overlapping components from view while allowing the components to fully operate.

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of an exemplary electronic device, such as a head-mounted device, according to one embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system including an electronic device, according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of an exemplary head-mounted device according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of an exemplary shroud according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of an exemplary shroud having a curved enclosure according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of an exemplary front display according to one embodiment. 1 is a top cross-sectional view of a portion of an exemplary display in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a top cross-sectional view of a portion of an exemplary head-mounted device including a display and a shroud in accordance with one embodiment. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of a portion of an exemplary shroud with through-hole openings for accommodating optical components according to one embodiment. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a portion of an exemplary shroud including a window member within a through-hole opening according to an embodiment. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of a portion of an exemplary head-mounted device including a shroud covering a display in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 1 illustrates a side cross-sectional view of an exemplary head mounted device optical component mounting configuration with optical component window coating according to one embodiment. FIG. 1 illustrates a side cross-sectional view of an exemplary head mounted device optical component mounting configuration using shroud through-hole openings in accordance with one embodiment. A side cross-sectional view of an exemplary head mounted device optical component mounting configuration comprising a window formed from a transparent window material, such as a layer of glass or transparent polymer with a coating, in accordance with one embodiment.

The head mounted device may include a head mounted support structure that allows the device to be worn on the user's head. The head mounted device may have a display supported by the head mounted support structure for presenting visual content to the user. The display may include a rear display that presents an image to an eyebox at the rear of the head mounted support structure. The display may also include a front display. The front display may be mounted on the front of the head mounted support structure and may be viewable by the user when the head mounted device is not worn on the user's head. The front display, sometimes referred to as a publicly viewable display, may also be viewable by other people in the vicinity of the head mounted device.

Optical components, such as image sensors and other light sensors, may be provided within the head-mounted device. In an exemplary configuration, the optical components are mounted under a peripheral portion of a display cover layer that protects the front display.

1 is a side view of an exemplary head mounted electronic device. As shown in FIG. 1, head mounted device 10 can include a head mounted support structure 26. Support structure 26 can have walls or other structures that separate an interior region of device 10, such as interior region 42, from an exterior region surrounding device 10, such as exterior region 44. Electrical components 40 (e.g., integrated circuits, sensors, control circuits, light emitting diodes, lasers, and other light emitting devices, other control circuits and input/output devices, etc.) can be mounted on printed circuits and/or other structures within device 10 (e.g., within interior region 42).

To present images to the user for viewing from an eyebox, such as eyebox 34, device 10 may include a rear display, such as display 14R, and a lens, such as lens 38. These components may be mounted in an optical module, such as optical module 36 (e.g., a lens barrel), to form separate left and right optical systems. For example, there may be a left rear display for presenting images through a left lens to the user's left eye in the left eyebox, and a right rear display for presenting images to the user's right eye in the right eyebox. The user's eyes are located in eyebox 34 on the rear R of device 10 when structure 26 is placed against the exterior surface of the user's face (facial surface 30).

The support structure 26 can include a main support structure, such as a main housing portion 26M (sometimes referred to as a main portion or housing). The main housing portion 26M can extend from a front side F of the device 10 to an opposite rear side R of the device 10. At the rear side R, the main housing portion 26M can have a cushioning structure to enhance user comfort when the portion 26M is placed against the face 30. If desired, the support structure 26 can include an optional head strap, such as strap 26B, and/or other structure that allows the device 10 to be worn on the user's head.

Device 10 can have a publicly viewable, forward-facing display, such as display 14F mounted on a front side F of main housing portion 26M. Display 14F can be visible to the user when the user is not wearing device 10 and/or can be viewable by others in the vicinity of device 10. Display 14F can be visible on front side F of device 10 by an external observer, such as observer 50 looking at device 10 in direction 52, as an example.

A schematic diagram of an exemplary system that may include a head-mounted device is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the system 8 may include one or more electronic devices 10. The devices 10 may include a head-mounted device (e.g., device 10 of FIG. 1), accessories such as controllers and headphones, computing devices (e.g., cellular phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, and/or remote computing devices that provide content to the head-mounted device), and/or other devices that communicate with each other.

Each electronic device 10 may have a control circuit 12. The control circuit 12 may include storage and processing circuitry that controls the operation of the device 10. The control circuit 12 may include storage, such as, for example, hard disk drive storage, non-volatile memory (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random access memory), etc. The processing circuitry of the control circuit 12 may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units, audio chips, graphics processing units, application specific integrated circuits, and other integrated circuits. Software code may be stored on the storage in the circuit 12 and executed on the processing circuitry in the circuit 12 to perform control operations of the device 10 (e.g., data collection operations, operations involving adjustment of components of the device 10 using control signals, etc.). The control circuit 12 may include wired communication circuitry and wireless communication circuitry. For example, the control circuit 12 may include wireless transceiver circuitry, such as cellular telephone transceiver circuitry, wireless local area network transceiver circuitry (WiFi circuitry), millimeter wave transceiver circuitry, and/or other wireless communication circuitry.

In operation, communication circuitry of devices in system 8 (e.g., communication circuitry of control circuitry 12 of device 10) can be used to support communication between electronic devices. For example, one electronic device can transmit video data, audio data, control signals, and/or other data to another electronic device in system 8. Electronic devices in system 8 can communicate over one or more communication networks (e.g., the Internet, local area networks, etc.) using wired and/or wireless communication circuitry. The communication circuitry can be used to enable device 10 to receive data from and/or provide data to external devices (e.g., portable devices such as tethered computers, handheld devices, or laptop computers, online computing devices such as remote servers or other remote computing devices, or other electrical devices).

Each device 10 in the system 8 may include an input/output device 22. The input/output device 22 may be used to allow a user to provide user input to the device 10. The input/output device 22 may also be used to gather information about the environment in which the device 10 is operating. Output components within the device 22 may allow the device 10 to provide output to the user, and may be used to communicate with external electrical equipment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the input/output device 22 can include one or more displays, such as display 14. Display 14 can include a rear-facing display, such as display 14R of FIG. 1. Device 10 can include left and right components, such as, for example, left and right scanning mirror display devices or other image projectors, liquid crystal on silicon display devices, digital mirror devices, or other reflective display devices, left and right display panels based on light-emitting diode pixel arrays (e.g., thin-film organic light-emitting displays having a polymer or semiconductor substrate such as a silicon substrate, or display devices based on pixel arrays formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies), liquid crystal display panels, and/or other left and right display devices that provide images to the left and right eyeboxes for viewing by the left and right eyes of a user, respectively. Display components such as these (e.g., thin-film organic light-emitting displays having a flexible polymer substrate, or displays based on pixel arrays formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies on a flexible substrate) can also be used in forming a front display (sometimes called a forward-facing display, front display, or publicly viewable display) for device 10, such as front display 14F of FIG. 1.

In operation, display 14 (e.g., display 14R and/or 14F) may be used to display visual content (e.g., still and/or moving images, including photos and pass-through video from a camera sensor, text, graphics, movies, games, and/or other visual content) for a user of device 10. The content presented on display 14 may include, for example, virtual objects and other content provided to display 14 by control circuitry 12. This virtual content may be referred to as computer-generated content. The computer-generated content may be displayed in the absence of real-world content or may be combined with real-world content. In some configurations, a real-world image may be captured by a camera (e.g., a forward-facing camera, sometimes referred to as a front camera), and the computer-generated content may be electronically overlaid on portions of the real-world image (e.g., when device 10 is a virtual reality goggle).

The input/output circuitry 22 may include a sensor 16. The sensor 16 may be, for example, a three-dimensional sensor (e.g., a three-dimensional image sensor such as a structured light sensor that emits a light beam and uses a two-dimensional digital image sensor to collect image data for a three-dimensional image from dots or other light spots that are generated when a target is illuminated by the light beam, a binocular three-dimensional image sensor that collects a three-dimensional image using two or more cameras in a binocular imaging configuration, a three-dimensional lidar (light detection and ranging), sometimes referred to as a time-of-flight camera or a three-dimensional time-of-flight camera. ranging) sensors, three-dimensional radio frequency sensors, or other sensors that collect three-dimensional image data), cameras (e.g., two-dimensional infrared and/or visible digital image sensors), eye-tracking sensors (e.g., eye-tracking systems based on image sensors, and optionally, light sources that emit one or more light beams that are tracked using the image sensors after being reflected from the user's eyes), sensors such as touch sensors, capacitive proximity sensors, light-based (optical) proximity sensors, other proximity sensors, force sensors (e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.), switch-based contact sensors, gas sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, magnetic sensors, audio sensors (microphones), ambient light sensors, flicker sensors that collect temporal information about ambient lighting conditions, such as the presence of time-varying ambient luminosity associated with artificial lighting, microphones for collecting voice commands and other audio inputs, sensors configured to collect information about movement, position, and/or orientation (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, and/or inertial measurement units that include all of these sensors or a subset of one or two of these sensors), and/or other sensors.

User input and other information may be collected using sensors and other input devices in the input/output device 22. Optionally, the input/output device 22 may include other devices 24 such as tactile output devices (e.g., vibrating components), light emitting diodes, lasers, and other light sources (e.g., light emitting devices that emit light to illuminate the environment surrounding the device 10 when ambient light levels are low), speakers such as ear speakers for generating audio output, circuitry for receiving wireless power, circuitry for wirelessly transmitting power to other devices, batteries and other energy storage devices (e.g., capacitors), joysticks, buttons, and/or other components.

1, the electronic device 10 can have a head-mounted support structure, such as head-mounted support structure 26 (e.g., a head-mounted housing structure, such as a housing wall, a strap, etc.). The head-mounted support structure can be configured to be worn on a user's head (e.g., against the user's face over the user's eyes) during operation of the device 10 and can support the display 14, sensors 16, other components 24, other input/output devices 22, and control circuitry 12 (see, e.g., components 40 and optical module 36 in FIG. 1).

3 is a front view of device 10 in an exemplary configuration in which device 10 has a publicly viewable display, such as front display 14F. As shown in FIG. 3, support structure 26M of device 10 can have right and left portions, such as portions 26R and 26L, joined by an intervening nasal bridge portion, such as portion 26NB. Portion 26NB can have a curved outer surface, such as nasal bridge surface 90, configured to receive and rest on a user's nose to help support main housing portion 26M on the user's head.

The display 14F may have an active area, such as an active area AA, configured to display an image, and an inactive area IA that does not display an image. The contour of the active area AA may be rectangular, a rectangle with rounded corners, may have teardrop-shaped portions on the left and right sides of the device 10, a shape with straight edges, a shape with curved edges, a shape with a perimeter that has both straight and curved portions, and/or other suitable contours. As shown in FIG. 3, the active area AA may have a curved recess in the nose bridge portion 26NB of the main housing portion 26. The presence of a nose-shaped recess in the active area AA may help fit the active area AA within the available space of the housing portion 26M without unduly limiting the size of the active area AA.

The active area AA includes an array of pixels. The pixels may be light-emitting diode pixels formed, for example, from thin-film organic light-emitting diodes or crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies (sometimes referred to as micro-light-emitting diodes) on a flexible display panel substrate. Configurations in which the display 14F uses other display technologies may also be used, if desired. An illustrative configuration in which the display 14 is formed from a light-emitting diode display, such as an organic light-emitting diode display formed on a flexible substrate (e.g., a substrate formed from a bendable layer of polyimide or a sheet of other flexible polymer), may also be described herein as an example. The pixels of the active area AA may be formed on a display device, such as the display panel 14P (e.g., a flexible organic light-emitting diode display panel) of FIG. 3. In some configurations, the contour of the active area AA (and, if desired, the panel 14P) may have a periphery that includes straight line segments or a combination of straight line segments and curved line segments. Configurations in which the entire contour of the active area AA (and, optionally, the panel 14P) is characterized by a curved periphery may also be used.

Display 14F may have an inactive area, such as inactive area IA, which is devoid of pixels and does not display an image. Inactive area IA may form an inactive border area that extends along one or more portions of the periphery of active area AA. In the exemplary configuration of FIG. 3, inactive area IA has a ring shape that surrounds active area AA to form an inactive border. In this type of configuration, the width of inactive area IA may be relatively constant, and the inner and outer edges of area IA may be characterized by straight and/or curved segments or may be curved along their entire length. For example, the outer edge of area IA (e.g., the perimeter of display 14F) may have a curved contour that extends parallel to the curved edge of active area AA.

In some configurations, the device 10 can operate with other devices in the system 8 (e.g., wireless controllers and other accessories). These accessories can have magnetic sensors that sense the direction and strength of a magnetic field. The device 10 can have one or more electromagnets configured to emit a magnetic field. The magnetic field can be measured by wireless accessories near the device 10, so that the accessories can determine their orientation and position relative to the device 10. This allows the accessories to wirelessly provide real-time information about their current location, orientation, and movement to the device 10, so that the accessories can function as wireless controllers. Accessories can include wearable devices, handled devices, and other input devices.

In an exemplary configuration, device 10 can have a coil, such as exemplary coil 54, that extends around the periphery of display 14F (e.g., under inactive area IA or other portions of display 14F). Coil 54 can have any suitable number of windings (e.g., 1-10, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, 10-50, less than 100, less than 25, less than 6, etc.). The windings may be formed from metal traces on a substrate, from wire, and/or from other conductive lines. In operation, control circuitry 12 can provide an alternating current (AC) drive signal to coil 54. The drive signal can have a frequency (by way of example) of at least 1 kHz, at least 10 kHz, at least 100 kHz, at least 1 MHz, less than 10 MHz, less than 3 MHz, less than 300 kHz, or less than 30 kHz. When an AC current flows through coil 54, a corresponding magnetic field is generated in the vicinity of device 10. An electronic device, such as a wireless controller, that has a magnetic sensor in the vicinity of device 10 can use the magnetic field as a reference so that it can determine the orientation, position, and/or movement of the wireless controller as it is moved relative to device 10 and provide input to device 10.

As an example, consider a handheld wireless controller used in controlling the operation of device 10. During operation, device 10 emits a magnetic field using coil 54. As the handheld wireless controller is moved, a magnetic sensor in the controller can monitor the position of the controller and its movement relative to device 10 by monitoring the strength, orientation, and changes in strength and/or orientation of the magnetic field emitted by coil 54 as the controller is moved through the air by the user. The electronic device can then wirelessly transmit information regarding the position and orientation of the controller to device 10. In this manner, the handheld controller, wearable controller, or other external accessory can be manipulated by the user to provide air gestures, pointing inputs, steering inputs, and/or other user inputs to device 10.

Device 10 can have components such as optical components (e.g., optical sensors among sensors 16 of FIG. 2). These components can be mounted in any suitable location on head-mounted support structure 26 (e.g., on head strap 26B, on main housing portion 26M, etc.). The optical and other components can face rearward (e.g., when mounted on the rear of device 10), sideways (e.g., to the left or right), downward or upward, toward the front of device 10 (e.g., when mounted on the front of device 10), mounted to point in any combination of these directions (e.g., forward, right, and downward), and/or mounted in other suitable orientations. In an exemplary configuration, at least some of the components of device 10 are mounted to face outward toward the front (and optionally sideways and/or up and down). For example, forward-facing cameras for pass-through video may be mounted on the left and right sides of the front of device 10 in a configuration such that the cameras diverge slightly along the horizontal dimension and the fields of view of the cameras overlap to some degree while capturing a wide-angle image of the environment in front of device 10. The captured image may optionally include portions of the user's surroundings below, above, and to the sides of the area directly in front of device 10.

To help hide components such as optical components from view outside the device 10, it may be desirable to cover some or all of the components with a cosmetic cover structure. The cover structure may include a transparent portion (e.g., an optical component window) characterized by sufficient optical transparency to allow the overlapping optical components to operate satisfactorily. For example, an ambient light sensor may be covered with a layer that appears opaque to an outside observer to help hide the ambient light sensor from view, but allows sufficient ambient light to pass to the ambient light sensor for the ambient light sensor to make a satisfactory ambient light measurement. As another example, an optical component that emits infrared light may be overlaid with a visually opaque material that is transparent to infrared light.

In an exemplary configuration, the optical components for the device 10 may be mounted within the inactive area IA of FIG. 3, and the cosmetic cover structure may be formed in a ring shape overlapping the optical components in the inactive area IA. The cosmetic cover structure may be formed from inks, polymer structures, structures including metals, glass, other materials, and/or combinations of these materials. In an exemplary configuration, the cosmetic cover structure may be formed from a ring-shaped member having a footprint that matches the footprint of the inactive area IA. For example, if the active area AA has left and right portions with a teardrop shape, the ring-shaped member may have curved edges that follow the curved perimeter of the teardrop-shaped portion of the active area AA. The ring-shaped member may be formed from one or more polymer structures (e.g., the ring-shaped member may be formed from a polymer ring). Because the ring-shaped member may help hide the overlapping components from view, the ring-shaped member may also be referred to as a shroud or ring-shaped shroud member. The appearance of a shroud or other cosmetic cover structure may be characterized by a neutral color (white, black, or gray) or a non-neutral color (e.g., blue, red, green, gold, rose gold, etc.).

Display 14F may have an optional protective display cover layer. The cover layer may overlie active area AA and inactive area IA (e.g., the entire front surface of device 10 as viewed from direction 52 in FIG. 1 may be covered by the cover layer). The cover layer, sometimes referred to as the housing wall or transparent housing wall, may have a rectangular outline, a teardrop outline, an oval outline, or other shape with curved and/or straight edges.

The cover layer can be formed from a transparent material, such as glass, polymer, a transparent crystalline material such as sapphire, a transparent ceramic, other transparent materials, and/or a combination of these materials. As an example, a protective display cover layer for display 14F can be formed from safety glass (e.g., laminated glass including a transparent glass layer with a laminated polymer film). An optional coating layer can be applied to the surface of the display cover layer. If necessary, the display cover layer can be chemically strengthened (e.g., using an ion exchange process to create an outer layer of material under compressive stress that is scratch resistant). In some configurations, the display cover layer can be formed from a stack of two or more layers of material (e.g., first and second structural glass layers, a rigid polymer layer bonded to a glass layer or another rigid polymer layer, etc.) to improve the performance of the cover layer.

In the active area AA, the display cover layer may overlay the pixels of the display panel 14P. The display cover layer in the active area AA is preferably transparent so that the image presented on the display panel 14P can be viewed. In the inactive area IA, the display cover layer may overlay a ring-shaped shroud or other cosmetic cover structure. The shroud and/or other cover structure (e.g., an opaque ink coating on the inner surface of the display cover layer and/or structure) may be sufficiently opaque to help hide some or all of the optical components in the inactive area IA from view. Windows may be provided in the shroud or other cosmetic cover structure to help ensure that the optical components over which these structures are overlaid operate satisfactorily. The windows may be formed from holes, from areas of the shroud or other cosmetic cover structure that have been locally thinned to enhance light transmission, from window members having the desired light transmission properties inserted into mating openings in the shroud, and/or from other shroud window structures.

In the example of FIG. 3, device 10 includes optical components such as (by way of example) optical components 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, and 80. Each of these optical components (e.g., an optical sensor selected from among sensors 16 of FIG. 2, a light emitting device, etc.) can be configured to detect light and, as appropriate, emit light (e.g., ultraviolet, visible, and/or infrared light).

In an exemplary configuration, the optical component 60 can sense ambient light (e.g., visible ambient light). In particular, the optical component 60 can have a photodetector that senses changes in ambient light intensity as a function of time. As an example, if a user is operating in an environment with an artificial light source, the light source can emit light at a frequency associated with its wall power source (e.g., 60 Hz AC mains). The photodetector of the component 60 can sense that the artificial light from the artificial light source is characterized by 60 Hz intensity fluctuations. The control circuit 12 can use this information to adjust a clock or other timing signal associated with the operation of the image sensor in the device 10 to help avoid undesirable interference between the light source frequency and the frame rate or other frequencies associated with image capture operations. The control circuit 12 can also use measurements from the component 60 to help identify the presence of artificial lighting and the type of artificial lighting present. In this manner, the control circuit 12 can detect the presence of light, such as fluorescent lights or other lights with known non-ideal color characteristics, and can make corrective color cast adjustments (e.g., white point adjustments) to color-sensitive components such as cameras and displays. Because optical component 60 can measure variations in light intensity, component 60 is sometimes called a flicker sensor or an ambient light frequency sensor.

The optical component 62 may be an ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may include one or more photodetectors. In a single photodetector configuration, the ambient light sensor may be a monochrome sensor that measures ambient light intensity. In a multi-photodetector configuration, each photodetector may be overlaid with an optical filter that passes a different wavelength band (e.g., different visible and/or infrared passbands). The optical filter passbands may overlap at their edges. This allows the component 62 to function as a color ambient light sensor that measures both ambient light intensity and ambient light color (e.g., by measuring the color coordinates of the ambient light). During operation of the device 10, the control circuit 12 may perform operations based on the measured ambient light intensity and color. As an example, the white point of the display or image sensor may be adjusted, or other display or image sensor color adjustments may be made, based on the measured ambient light color. The intensity of the display may be adjusted based on the light intensity. For example, the brightness of the display 14F may be increased in bright ambient lighting conditions to enhance the visibility of the image on the display, and the brightness of the display 14F may be reduced in dim lighting conditions to conserve power. Image sensor operation and/or light source operation may also be adjusted based on the ambient light readings.

The optical components within active area IA can also include components along the sides of device 10, such as components 80 and 64. Optical components 80 and 64 can be pose-tracking cameras used to help monitor the orientation and movement of device 10. Components 80 and 64 can be visible light cameras (and/or cameras sensitive to visible and infrared wavelengths) and, together with an inertial measurement unit, can form a visual inertial odometry (VIO) system.

The optical components 78 and 66 may be visible light cameras that capture real-time images of the environment surrounding the device 10. These cameras, sometimes called scene cameras or pass-through video cameras, may capture video that is displayed in real-time on the display 14R for the user to view when the user's eyes are located in the rear eyebox 34 of the device 10. In this manner, the user may be provided with real-time information about the user's surroundings by displaying a pass-through image (pass-through video) to the user. If desired, virtual content (e.g., computer-generated imagery) may be overlaid on top of portions of the pass-through video. The device 10 may also operate in a non-pass-through video mode in which the components 78 and 66 are turned off and the user is provided with only movie content, gaming content, and/or other virtual content that does not include real-time real-world imagery.

The input/output devices 22 of the device 10 can collect user inputs used in controlling the operation of the device 10. As an example, a microphone in the device 10 can collect voice commands. Buttons, touch sensors, force sensors, and other input devices can collect user inputs from a user's fingers or other external objects in contact with the device 10. In some configurations, it may be desirable to monitor the user's hand gestures or other user body part movements. This allows the user's hand positions or other body part positions to be replicated in a game or other virtual environment, and the user's hand movements can serve as hand gestures (air gestures) that control the operation of the device 10. User inputs such as hand gesture inputs can be captured using cameras operating in visible and infrared wavelengths, such as tracking cameras (e.g., optical components 76 and 68). Tracking cameras such as these can also track reference points and other recognizable features on controllers and other external accessories (additional devices 10 of the system 8) during the use of these controllers in controlling the operation of the device 10. Optionally, the tracking camera can help determine the position and orientation of a handheld or wearable controller, which senses its location and orientation by measuring the magnetic field generated by coil 54. Thus, use of a tracking camera can help track hand and controller movements used in moving a pointer and other virtual objects displayed to the user, and can otherwise assist in controlling the operation of device 10.

The tracking camera may operate satisfactorily in the presence of sufficient ambient light (e.g., bright visible ambient lighting conditions). In dim environments, supplemental lighting may be provided by supplemental light sources, such as supplemental infrared light sources (e.g., optical components 82 and 84). The infrared light sources may each include one or more light emitting devices (light emitting diodes or lasers) and each may be configured to provide a fixed and/or steerable beam of infrared light that functions as supplemental lighting for the tracking camera. If desired, the infrared light sources may be turned off in bright ambient lighting conditions (e.g., using the ambient light sensing capabilities of optical component 62) and turned on in response to detection of dim ambient lighting.

The three-dimensional sensors in device 10 may be used to perform biometric identification operations (e.g., facial identification for authentication), to determine the three-dimensional shape of objects in the user's environment (e.g., to map the user's environment so that a matching virtual environment can be created for the user), and/or to collect three-dimensional content during operation of device 10. As an example, optical components 74 and 70 may be three-dimensional structured light image sensors. Each three-dimensional structured light image sensor may have one or more light sources that provide structured light (e.g., a dot projector that projects an array of infrared dots onto the environment, a structured light source that generates a grid of lines, or other structured light components that emit structured light). Each of the three-dimensional structured light image sensors may also include a flood illuminator (e.g., a light emitting diode or laser that emits a wide beam of infrared light). Using flood illumination and structured light illumination, optical components 74 and 70 may capture facial images, images of objects in the environment surrounding device 10, etc.

Optical component 72 may be an infrared three-dimensional time-of-flight camera that uses time-of-flight measurements on emitted light to collect three-dimensional images of objects in the environment surrounding device 10. Component 72 may have a longer range and a narrower field of view than the three-dimensional structured light cameras of optical components 74 and 70. The operating range of component 72 may be (by way of example) 30 cm to 7 m, 60 cm to 6 m, 70 cm to 5 m, or other suitable operating range.

4 is a front view of an exemplary ring-shaped cosmetic cover structure of device 10. The exemplary ring-shaped shroud 100 of FIG. 4 may be attached under the inner surface of the display cover layer of display 14F in the inactive area IA. This may help hide optical components and other internal parts of device 10 from view from outside device 10. Shroud 100 may be formed from one or more continuous ring-shaped members and/or from multiple shroud segments attached using adhesives, fasteners, or other attachment structures. If desired, shroud 100 may be formed from multiple members sandwiched together along some or all of their lengths. In an exemplary configuration, which may be described herein by way of example, the shroud 100 may be formed from an inner component (e.g., an inner full or partial ring) which may be referred to as an inner shroud member, shroud trim, or shroud trim member, and from one or more outer components (e.g., one or more pieces of material or covering members, a full ring, one or more partial rings, etc.) which may be referred to as a shroud cover, canopy, or shroud canopy.

As shown in FIG. 4, the shroud 100 can have optical component windows for accommodating the components 60, 62, 64, 84, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82, and 80. The optical component windows may be formed from through-hole openings in the shroud 100, from recesses or other partial openings that do not pass completely through the shroud 100, from optical window members inserted into the shroud through-hole openings, and/or from other shroud optical component window structures. The display 14F can have a display cover layer with corresponding optical component windows (through-hole openings, recessed areas, window members inserted into the through-hole openings, etc.) and/or formed from a bulk material having desired optical properties (e.g., a display cover layer formed from one or more layers of material, such as glass and/or polymer, having sufficient transparency in the operating wavelength range of the overlapping optical components to allow the optical components to operate satisfactorily through the cover layer without forming openings or other window structures in the cover layer).

The shroud 100 may have any suitable shape. For example, the outline of the shroud 100 may be rectangular with rounded corners as shown in FIG. 4, may have a teardrop shape on the left and right sides of the device 10, may have an oval outline, and/or may have other outlines with curved and/or straight edge segments. FIG. 5 is a front view of a portion of the shroud 100, illustrating how the inner and outer edges of the shroud 100 may be curved (e.g., to follow a teardrop shape). The shroud 100 may have a curved periphery along most or all of its length, if desired.

The width of the shroud 100 may be constant along its length, or the shroud 100 may have portions that are wider than other portions. The thickness of the shroud 100 (e.g., the dimension of the shroud 100 into the page in the orientation of FIG. 4) may be less than the width of the shroud 100 (the lateral dimension of the shroud 100 into the page in the orientation of FIG. 4), or the thickness of the shroud may be greater than or equal to the width of the shroud. The shroud may have a two-dimensional shape (e.g., the shroud 100 may have a planar shape that lies in the XZ plane in the example of FIG. 4), or may have a three-dimensional shape (e.g., a shape having a curved cross-sectional profile and/or a shape characterized by inner and/or outer surfaces of compound curvature). In an exemplary configuration, most or all of the inner and outer surfaces of the shroud have compound curvature surfaces.

The optical components under the inactive area IA may include components on the left and right sides of the device 10 that operate in conjunction with one another. For example, the scene cameras, tracking cameras, and/or structured light cameras in the device 10 may be formed in pairs, each of which includes a left camera and a corresponding right camera. The left and right scene cameras may, by way of example, operate together to capture overlapping images that provide the device 10 with a wide field of view for collecting pass-through video. The left and right tracking cameras may operate together to track a user's hand or other external object. The left and right structured light cameras or other three-dimensional cameras may be used together to capture a three-dimensional image of the user's environment. To improve the performance of the left and right optical components in these types of paired component configurations, it may be desirable to maintain precise alignment between the left and right optical components. To help maintain the optical components on the respective left and right sides of the device 10 aligned with one another, the device 10 may include one or more housing structures that help support the optical components.

6, for example, the device 10 may include an internal support structure, such as a bracket 102, that helps support optical components 104 on the left and right sides of the device 10. The components 104 may be, for example, optical components of the type shown under the inactive area IA in FIG. 3. The bracket 102 may be formed from a rigid metal and/or other hard material (e.g., a hard polymer, carbon fiber composite, or other fiber composite material, etc.). A nasal bridge recess in the bracket 102 (e.g., in the portion of the bracket 102 near the nasal bridge portion 26NB) can help the bracket 102 conform to the shape of the user's face. The bracket 102 may have an elongated strip shape that extends along a portion of the length of the inactive area IA (e.g., to the bottom edge of the device 10).

The bracket 102 may be coupled to the device 10 using attachment structures (adhesive, fasteners, press-fit connections, and/or other attachment mechanisms) that allow the bracket 102 to float relative to the rest of the housing portion 26M during a drop event. The rigidity of the bracket 102 and its ability to shift position somewhat relative to other housing structures without significantly distorting the shape of the bracket 102 may help keep the left and right side components of the device 10 aligned with each other during periods of excessive stress, such as when the device 10 is highly stressed during an unexpected drop event.

In the example of FIG. 6, the bracket 102 is attached below the inactive area IA and has a nose bridge recess with a curved edge configured to accommodate the user's nose when the device 10 is worn on the user's head. The device 102 may have other shapes as desired. The components 104 may be attached to the left and right sides of the bracket 102 and/or other support structures within the device 10 (e.g., the shroud 100) using adhesives, fasteners, press-fit connections, and/or other attachment structures.

7 is a top cross-sectional view of a portion of the device 10. As shown in FIG. 7, the shroud 100 may overlap one or more optical components 104 in the inactive area IA. The inactive area IA may form a ring-shaped boundary surrounding the active area AA. The display 14F may have a display cover layer, such as a display cover layer 92. The layer 92 may be formed of glass, polymer, ceramic, crystalline material such as sapphire, other materials, and/or combinations of these materials. The layer 92 may include a single layer of material or multiple stacked layers of material. In the active area AA, the pixels P in the display panel 14P display an image that is viewable through the display cover layer 92. The shroud 100 may not be present in the active area AA (e.g., the shroud may have a ring shape surrounding an opening above the panel 14P, as shown in FIG. 7), or the shroud 100 may optionally have a portion that overlaps the display panel 14P (sometimes referred to as a canopy or shroud structure). The canopy may be fully or partially transparent. In the inactive area IA, the shroud 100 overlaps with a component 104. The component 104 may be an optical component that emits and/or detects light passing through the transparent portions of the layer 92 and the shroud 100, and/or an optical component window formed from a recess, a through-hole opening, a window member, and/or other window structure in the layer 92 and the shroud 100.

The display cover layer 92 can include planar and/or curved surfaces. In an exemplary configuration, most or all of the inner and outer surfaces of the display cover layer 92 have curvature.

The curved surface of the display cover layer 92 may include a curved surface that can be flattened to a plane without distortion (sometimes referred to as a developable surface or a curved surface that does not have a compound curvature). Surfaces such as these may overlap the active area AA, by way of example. The curved surface of the display cover layer 92 may also include a curved surface characterized by a compound curvature (e.g., a surface that can only be flattened to a plane with distortion, sometimes referred to as a non-developable surface). Some or all of the inner and outer surfaces of the display cover layer 92 in the inactive area IA may be characterized by a compound curvature, by way of example. This allows the periphery of the display 14F to transition smoothly away from the active area, providing the device 10 with an attractive appearance and a compact shape. The compound curvature of the display cover layer 92 in the inactive area IA may also facilitate placement of optical components in a desired orientation under the inactive area IA. The inner and outer surfaces of the display cover layer 92 in the active area AA may have a compound curvature, may be developable surfaces, or may include both developable surface areas and compound curvature areas.

Image data and other data collected by the optical components may be digitally distorted to compensate for optical distortions associated with the display cover layer 92. To help minimize optical distortions, one or more of the optical components may optionally be oriented in a direction parallel or near-parallel to the surface normal of the portion of the display cover layer surface overlying the optical component.

As an example, consider the optical component 104 of FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7, some optical components, such as the exemplary optical component 104B operating in a direction 112, may face forward in portions of the display cover layer 92 where the surface normal of the layer 92 is oriented parallel to the Y axis or approximately parallel to the Y axis (e.g., the direction 112 may be parallel or approximately parallel to the Y axis in FIG. 7). Other optical components, such as the exemplary optical component 104A operating in a direction 110, may be angled away from the forward direction by a non-zero angle (e.g., at least 10°, at least 20°, less than 90°, less than 50°, or other suitable amount of angle). Direction 110 may be parallel or nearly parallel to the surface normal of the overlapping surfaces of display cover layer 92 (e.g., aligned within 30°, 20°, 10°, or other suitable amount), and may be in the XY plane of FIG. 7 or angled out of the XY plane (e.g., by orienting component 104A such that direction 110 is angled upward in the +Z direction or downward in the -Z direction, in addition to angling direction 110 away from the +Y direction, as shown in FIG. 7).

In this type of configuration, the display cover layer 92 may have a compound curvature in the inactive region IA, and the shroud 100 may have a shape with a cross-sectional profile that mirrors the cross-sectional profile of the display cover layer 92 in the inactive region IA (e.g., the outer and/or inner surfaces of the shroud 100 in the inactive region IA may be compound curvature surfaces). When components such as components 104A and 104B are attached to the shroud 100 and/or are otherwise supported by the support structure of the device 10 and operate through the shroud 100 and the display cover layer 92, the curved shapes of the display cover layer 92 and the shroud 100 may help enable these components to face a desired orientation (e.g., a forward direction for components such as component 104B, or an orientation angled away from the forward direction for components such as component 104A).

As one example, optical components attached to the left and right sides of nose bridge portion 26NB may be oriented slightly left and slightly right, respectively, in the +Y forward direction (e.g., to ensure a proper angle of view for a pair of cameras). As another example, the curved shape of display cover layer 92 and shroud 100 along the bottom edge of device 10 may allow components in this portion to point somewhat downward from the XY plane, which may aid in aiming a camera, such as a tracking camera, toward the user's hand.

The display panel 14P may be a flexible display, such as a flexible organic light emitting diode display having a flexible substrate, or a light emitting diode display formed from crystalline semiconductor light emitting diode dies mounted on a flexible substrate. This allows the display panel 14P and the pixels of the panel 14P forming the active area AA to be bent about a bending axis extending parallel to the vertical axis Z, thereby helping to wrap the display 14F and the housing portion 26M around the curved surface of the user's face. Optionally, the display panel 14P may be a lenticular display configured to display three-dimensional images (e.g., an autostereoscopic display having a series of parallel lenticular lenses, each overlying a respective group of a plurality of pixel columns).

The outer and inner surfaces of the display cover layer 92 may have the same shape (e.g., the surfaces may be parallel to one another), or the outer and inner surfaces may have different shapes. In configurations in which the display panel 14P of the display 14F is flexible, it may be desirable to configure the inner surface of the display cover layer 92 in the active area AA to exhibit a curved surface shape that matches the curved outwardly facing surface of the display panel 14P (e.g., the inner surface, and, optionally, the outer surface, of the display cover layer 92 in the active area AA may be a developable surface without a compound curvature to match the developable outwardly facing surface of the display panel 14P).

The shroud 100 and the display cover layer 92 may be attached to the main housing portion 26M using adhesives, screws and other fasteners, press-fit connections, and/or other attachment mechanisms. An exemplary configuration in which the shroud 100 and the cover layer 92 are attached to the forward-facing edge of the housing wall in the main housing portion 26M using adhesives is shown in FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 8, the shroud 100 has an inner shroud member, such as a shroud trim 100A, and a corresponding outer shroud member, such as a shroud canopy 100B. The shroud trim 100A and the shroud canopy 100B may be formed from metals, polymers, ceramics, glasses, other materials, and/or combinations of these materials. In an exemplary example, the shroud trim 100A is formed from a black polymer or other dark material, and the shroud canopy 100B is formed from a clear polymer. The outer surface of the shroud canopy 100B may be smooth to provide the shroud 100 with a cosmetically appealing appearance.

A layer of pressure sensitive adhesive (see, e.g., adhesive 114) may be used to attach the canopy 100B to the trim 100A. Adhesive may also be used to attach the cover layer 92 and the shroud 100 to the housing portion 26M. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, a first adhesive such as adhesive 122 may be used to attach the display cover layer 92 to the shroud 100 (e.g., to a ledge of the shroud trim 100A). A second adhesive such as adhesive 124 may then be used to attach the shroud 100 (e.g., the shroud trim 100A) to an adjacent lip of a wall within the main housing portion 26M.

In some configurations, the adhesives 122 and 124 may be formed from the same type of material. In an exemplary configuration, the adhesives 122 and 124 are different. The housing portion 26M may have a wall with a lip shape that creates a shear force in the adhesive 124 when the display 14F is attached to the housing portion 26M by pressing the display 14F against the housing portion 26M in the -Y direction. In this type of scenario, it may be desirable to form the adhesive 124 from an adhesive that is not a pressure sensitive adhesive, but rather one that can bond well in the presence of shear forces, such as a molten hot melt adhesive (thermoplastic adhesive) or other liquid adhesive. The adhesive 124 may be exposed to a curing action (UV light, moisture, etc.) if necessary, before the display 14F is assembled into the housing 26M.

It may be desirable to repair the device 10. For example, if a user has subjected the display 14F to excessive force during a drop event, it may be desirable to replace the display 14F with a new display. This may be accomplished by heating the adhesive 124 to loosen the adhesive bond formed by the adhesive 124. The adhesive 122 may have a higher temperature softening point than the adhesive 124 to help prevent the display cover layer 92 from separating from the shroud 100 while the adhesive 124 is being heat softened (e.g., the adhesive 122 may be a two-part hot melt adhesive with a higher melting point than the adhesive 124).

The optical components overlaid with the display cover layer 92 and the shroud 100 in the inactive area IA may transmit and/or receive light through the shroud 100 and the display cover layer 92. The layer 92 may be formed of laminated glass or other transparent material that allows light for each overlaid optical component 104 to pass through the layer 92. If necessary, a partial recess or through-hole opening may be formed in a portion of the layer 92. An optional optical component window member 116 may then be inserted within the layer 92 (e.g., within the window region 118). By way of example, the layer 92 may be formed of one or more layers of glass and/or polymer and may be characterized by a first level of light transmittance at the operating wavelength(s) of the components 104, while the window member 116 may be formed of a polymer, glass, and/or other material characterized by a second level of light transmittance at the operating wavelength(s) that is greater than the first level of light transmittance. In other exemplary configurations, no window member is inserted into layer 92 (e.g., optional window member 116 in FIG. 8 can be omitted if layer 92 alone is sufficiently transparent to allow light from component 104 to pass therethrough).

The shroud 100 may include an optical component window in region 118 to accommodate the overlapping optical component 104. The component 104 may operate at ultraviolet, visible, and/or infrared wavelengths. To accommodate the component 104 in the example of FIG. 8, the shroud trim 100A is provided with a through-hole opening, such as opening 120, while the shroud canopy 100B does not have an opening in region 118. This effectively forms a window recess in the shroud 100 that is aligned with the component 104. The trim 100A may be formed from a black polymer or other light-absorbing material, and thus the formation of the opening 120 in the trim 100A may help ensure that sufficient light can pass through region 118 to allow the component 104 to operate satisfactorily. The portion of the canopy 100B that overlaps the opening 120 may be transparent (e.g., a transparent polymer).

To help hide the components 104 from view, the interior surface of the shroud canopy 100B of FIG. 8 is covered with a coating 126. The coating 126 may be used to provide the region 118 with a desired appearance and optical properties that ensure the components 104 can operate satisfactorily. The coating 126 may be a thin-film interference filter formed from a stack of thin-film dielectric layers of alternating refractive index values (with refractive indices and thicknesses selected to produce the desired transmission spectrum and desired reflection spectrum of the filter), a layer of ink (e.g., a polymer layer containing dyes, pigments, and/or other colorants), and/or any other suitable coating having the desired optical properties.

As an example, consider a scenario in which component 104 transmits and/or receives infrared light. In this type of configuration, coating 126 may be opaque at visible wavelengths and transparent at infrared wavelengths. This helps hide component 104 from view outside device 10 while allowing infrared light associated with the operation of component 104 to pass through shroud 100 and layer 92.

As another example, consider a scenario in which component 104 is an ambient light sensor. In this configuration, coating 126 may exhibit a visible light transmittance of (by way of example) 1-8%. This may allow enough visible ambient light to reach the ambient light sensor to allow the ambient light sensor to indicate an ambient light reading. At the same time, the transmittance of coating 126 may be low enough that coating 126 helps reduce the visibility of component 104 from outside device 10.

As these examples show, areas of the display 14F that overlie an optical component, such as component 104 in FIG. 8, may include optical component window structures in layer 92 and/or shroud 100 that help accommodate the optical component.

Optionally, the shroud 100 may be provided with through-hole openings to accommodate overlapping optical components. For example, the shroud 100 may include one or more sublayers (e.g., trim, canopy, and/or other layers) as shown in FIG. 9. The through-hole openings 130 may extend from the inner surface of the shroud 100 to the outer surface of the shroud 100. The openings 130 may be aligned with the optical components 104. The components 104 may be mounted behind the openings 130 and/or may be partially or completely received within the openings 130 as shown in FIG. 9. This allows light to be emitted and/or received by the components 104 without being blocked by the shroud 100.

In the exemplary configuration of FIG. 10, the shroud 100 also includes one or more sublayers (e.g., trim, canopy, and/or other layers). As shown in FIG. 10, through-hole openings may be formed in the shroud 100 in alignment with the optical components 104 and filled with an optical component window member 132 (e.g., a window structure formed from a glass or polymer member, or other materials and/or combinations of these materials). The optical component window member 132 has optical properties (e.g., optical transmission, reflection, absorption, blur, etc.) that allow the components 104 to sufficiently transmit and/or receive light through the region 118. As an example, the member 130 may be formed from a glass that is transparent to infrared light and opaque or transparent to visible light.

3 and 4, there may be multiple optical components, such as component 104, in the inactive area IA. Each optical component may have a different type of optical component window structure in the shroud 100 and/or layer 92 to accommodate the component. For example, some areas of the shroud 100 may have openings to receive the components, such as those described in connection with FIG. 9, other areas of the shroud 100 may have inserted optical window members, such as member 132 of FIG. 10, and/or other areas of the shroud 100 may have partial shroud openings (e.g., blind hole recesses), such as opening 120 of FIG. 8 (which may be optionally covered with a layer, such as coating 126, to modify the optical properties of the shroud 100).

11 is a side cross-sectional view of a portion of a head mounted device having a fully or partially transparent shroud covering the front of the device. As shown in FIG. 11, the head mounted device 10 may include a display panel 14P for a front display 14. The panel 14P may be a lenticular display (e.g., an autostereoscopic display having lenticular lenses 14P' configured to display a three-dimensional image for a user).

In the configuration of FIG. 11, the display cover layer 92 has inner and outer surfaces with a compound curvature in the inactive area IA (e.g., a ring-shaped area extending along the perimeter of the layer 92). The inner and outer surfaces of the display cover layer 92 in the active area AA may also have a compound curvature, or one or both of these surfaces may be developable. In the example of FIG. 11, the inner and outer surfaces of the layer 92 have a compound curvature in both the inactive area IA and the active area AA (e.g., these surfaces may be devoid of any developable surfaces), which may help provide an attractive appearance to the device 10.

The shroud of the device 10 of FIG. 11 includes a shroud trim 100A and a shroud canopy 100B. The trim 100A may have a ring shape and may extend around the perimeter of the display 14. The canopy 100B may be formed from a material such as a polymer and may have an outline equal to or approximately equal to the outline of the display cover layer 92 and may cover substantially the entire front surface of the device 10. In this type of configuration, the shroud canopy 100B overlies all of the display panel 14P. The polymer that makes up the canopy 100B may have a bulk coloring (e.g., a colorant such as a dye and/or pigment that provides the canopy 100B with desired light transmission properties). For example, the canopy 100B may be tinted such that the canopy 100B exhibits a visible light transmission of 30-80%, at least 20%, at least 40%, less than 95%, less than 90%, less than 85%, less than 75%, 60%, or other suitable amount. By configuring the canopy 10B to exhibit partial light transmission (e.g., 30-80% or other suitable value), the canopy 100B may help visually hide interior components such as the lens 14P' and other structures of the display 14P from view (e.g., when the display 14P is not in use).

The inner surface of the canopy 100B may be provided with an optical layer, such as optical layer (optical film) 146. The layer 146 may have texture and/or light scattering particles that create a haze. The haze may help hide the structure of the display panel 14P from view outside the device 10. The layer 146 may also have microlouvers or other features that help suppress off-axis light transmission (e.g., the layer 146 may have a privacy structure that reduces light transmission for light rays that are not parallel to the Y-axis). Because the layer 146 may include a haze and/or privacy structure, the layer 146 may also be referred to as a privacy layer, a haze layer, and/or a privacy and haze layer.

In an exemplary configuration, layer 146 may have a flexible substrate layer covered with a hazy coating. The hazy coating may be a pad-printed polymer coating containing embedded light scattering particles (e.g., inorganic light scattering particles such as titanium dioxide particles). The flexible substrate layer may be a privacy film, such as a microlouver film or other privacy layer, that prevents off-axis (away from the Y-axis) viewing of the display panel 14P).

The blurring of layer 146 may be provided using any suitable blurring structure (e.g., a coating of a blurred polymer having a thickness of 3-10 micrometers on a flexible privacy film or other substrate, a laminated blurring film, or other layer exhibiting a blurring of 3%-40% or other suitable value, sometimes referred to as a blurring coating). The blurring may be provided by embedded light scattering particles and/or a surface texture (e.g., a texture within layer 146 or, optionally, a texture on the surface of canopy 100B). The blurring provided by the blurring coating and/or other blurring structure of layer 146 is preferably provided sufficiently close to display 14P so that the resolution of display 14P is not significantly affected. At the same time, the presence of the blurring (e.g., the blurring coating of layer 146) may help hide the lenses and other structures in layer 14P from view when not in use.

The device 10 may have an air gap between the display panel 14P and the canopy 100B (e.g., there may be an air gap, such as air gap 144, between the inward-facing side of the canopy 100B and any coatings and/or films, such as the blur layer 146 on this side of the canopy 100B, and the opposing top surface of the display panel 14P (as well as the lens 14P' and pixels on the panel 14P). The presence of the air gap 144 may help ensure that the lens 14P' operates satisfactorily. The bracket 156 may help support the display panel 14P.

To help hide the internal components from view, an opaque masking layer, such as layer BM-1, may be formed on the inner surface of the display cover layer 92 in the inactive area IA. Adhesive 122 may attach layer 92 to the edge of the canopy 100B. Additional opaque masking material (see, for example, canopy opaque masking layer BM-2) may be formed on the inner surface of the canopy 100B in the inactive area IA. Adhesive 114 may be used to attach the shroud trim 100A to the shroud canopy 100B. Adhesive 124 may be used to attach the shroud trim 100A to the housing portion 26M. Adhesive 160 may be used to attach the bracket 156 (adhesively attached to the rear of the panel 14P) to the canopy 100B.

In the example of FIG. 11, the outer surface 148 and the inner surface 150 of the display cover layer 92 have compound curvatures in the inactive and active regions IA and AA. The outer surface 152 and the opposing inner surface 154 of the shroud canopy 100B may have matching compound curvatures in the inactive region IA. In the active region AA, the outer surface 152 and the inner surface 154 of the shroud canopy 100B may be developable surfaces (e.g., surfaces without compound curvature that exhibit a curved cross-sectional profile that bends about a single bending axis, such as axis 142). Axis 142 is an axis that extends parallel to the Z-axis in this example. The display panel 14P may exhibit the same amount of bending about axis 142 and may also be characterized by a developable surface (e.g., a pixel array on the outer surface of panel 14P may have a developable surface).

The amount of bending of the canopy 100B and the corresponding amount of bending of the display panel 14P about axis 142 can be selected to help the device 10 conform to the curvature of the user's face.

In the exemplary configuration of FIG. 11, the canopy 100B does not have an area of compound curvature overlying the display panel 14P. Rather, the portion of the canopy 100B overlying the panel 14P has inner and outer developable surfaces. If desired, one or both of the surfaces 152 and 154 may have a compound curvature. For example, the outer surface 152 may have a compound curvature and may be configured to establish a uniform thickness of the air gap 140 under some or all of the inner surface 150 of the layer 92. In the example of FIG. 11, there is a non-uniform thickness of the air gap 140 between the layer 92 and the canopy 100B.

The bracket 156 may be formed from a metal sheet or other support structure and may be characterized by inner and outer surfaces that are developable (e.g., surfaces that curve about the axis 142 and do not include areas of compound curvature). By avoiding compound curvature in the structure that supports and directly overlies the display panel 14P, the display panel 14P may be formed from a curved flexible substrate, such as a polyimide substrate that curves about the axis 142, without the risk of creating wrinkles or other artifacts of the type that may be introduced if the panel 14P had an area of compound curvature.

The shroud and other structures of device 10 of FIG. 11 (e.g., opaque masking layer coatings such as layers BM-1 and BM-2, which may be black ink layers) may be configured to form an optical window for optical component 104.

FIG. 12 illustrates how the opaque masking layer BM-2 on the canopy 100B can have a window opening filled with a coating layer, such as coating 170. The optical component 104 (e.g., a flicker sensor, an ambient light sensor, and/or other light detector) can be aligned with the window opening. A transparent canopy portion may overlap the window opening, or a canopy opening may overlap the window opening. Layer BM-2 may be opaque, which helps prevent internal components within device 10 from being seen from outside device 10. The presence of the opening in layer BM-2 allows the optical component 104 to operate satisfactorily (e.g., receive and measure ambient light). Coating 170 can be configured to allow component 104 to operate while helping to visually hide component 104. As an example, coating 170 may be formed from a layer of ink having a visible light transmittance of 2-25%, at least 1%, at least 2%, at least 4%, less than 80%, less than 30%, or other suitable amount, while layer BM-2 may have a visible light transmittance of less than 2%, less than 1%, or less than 0.5% (by way of example).

13 is a side cross-sectional view of another exemplary head mounted device optical component mounting configuration. The configuration of FIG. 13 uses shroud through-hole openings in trim 100A and canopy 100B. These through-hole openings are aligned with openings in display opaque masking layer BM-1 (and, optionally, aligned with corresponding openings in canopy opaque masking layer BM-2). An optional coating layer, such as layer 164, may cover the optical window formed from these openings. Layer 164 and the other openings in FIG. 14 may be aligned with optical component 104, which may be mounted behind the shroud and/or may have a portion that protrudes into the through-hole opening of the shroud. In a first exemplary configuration, component 104 in FIG. 13 is an infrared illuminator (e.g., an infrared emitting diode). In this type of configuration, coating layer 164 can be formed from a layer of ink, a thin-film interference filter, or other filter layer that blocks visible light and transmits infrared light (e.g., a visible light blocking infrared light transmitting filter layer). In a second exemplary configuration, component 104 of FIG. 13 is a camera (e.g., a visible pass-through camera, an infrared camera, and/or other camera that operates at visible and/or infrared wavelengths). In this configuration, coating 164 may be omitted (to pass visible and/or infrared light), may be configured to form an anti-reflective coating, and/or may be otherwise configured to operate with the camera.

14 is a side cross-sectional view of an exemplary head mounted device optical component mounting configuration having an optical component window formed from a transparent window member. A transparent window member 166 (e.g., a layer of glass or polymer) may be attached to the through hole openings in the trim 100A and the canopy 100B and may be aligned with the openings of the opaque masking layer BM-1 on the optical component 104 and layer 92 (and, if desired, may be aligned with the openings of the opaque masking layer BM-2 on the canopy 100B). A filter coating 168 may be provided on the window member 166. In an exemplary configuration, the component 104 in FIG. 14 is a three-dimensional camera, such as a time-of-flight camera or a structured light camera, and may operate at infrared wavelengths. The filter 168 in this type of configuration may be transparent to infrared light, transparent to visible light, or opaque to visible light (e.g., the filter 168 may be an infrared light transmitting visible light blocking filter). The filter coating 168 may be formed from an ink, a thin film interference filter, or other filter structure.

The presence of the window member 166, which may be configured to exhibit a relatively small amount of optical distortion, may help improve the optical performance of the component 104. If desired, the optical component matching surface area for the optical component window of the component 104 may be formed directly in the canopy 100B (e.g., so that the canopy 100B may overlap the component 104 without forming a through-hole opening in the canopy 100B).

According to one embodiment, a head mounted device is provided, the head mounted device including: a head mounted support structure; a first display and a first lens supported by the head mounted support structure and configured to provide a first image to a first eyebox; a second display and a second lens supported by the head mounted support structure and configured to provide a second image to a second eyebox; a front display supported on a front side of the head mounted support structure, the front display having an active area in which a third image is displayed and a ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the active area that does not display an image, the front display having a display cover layer overlying the active area and the inactive area; optical components in the inactive area; and a cover structure under the display cover layer overlying the inactive area.

According to another embodiment, the cover structure includes a shroud having a shroud trim and having a shroud canopy, the shroud canopy including a clear polymer, the shroud trim including a dark polymer, the shroud canopy attached to the shroud trim with an adhesive, and the head mounted device includes a coating on an inner surface of the shroud canopy overlying the optical component.

According to another embodiment, the cover structure includes a ring-shaped polymer structure that surrounds the active area.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has a through-hole opening aligned with the optical component.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has an opening and the head-mounted device includes a glass member aligned with the optical component within the opening.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure has a recess that is aligned with the optical component.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped polymer structure includes a first polymer member and a second polymer member attached with an adhesive, and the recess is formed by a through hole in the first polymer member.

According to another embodiment, the second polymer member includes a transparent polymer that overlies the through hole in the first polymer member.

According to another embodiment, the head-mounted device includes a coating on the inner surface of a transparent polymer that overlies the through-hole opening.

According to another embodiment, the first polymer member comprises a black polymer.

According to another embodiment, the head mounted device includes a first adhesive layer configured to attach the display cover layer to the ring-shaped polymer structure and a second adhesive having a lower melting point than the first adhesive layer and configured to attach the ring-shaped polymer structure to the head mantle support structure.

According to another embodiment, the cover structure includes a polymer layer separated from the display cover layer by an air gap, the polymer layer having a surface with a compound curvature overlying the inactive areas and a developable surface overlying the active areas.

According to one embodiment, a head mounted device is provided, the head mounted device including: a head mounted support structure; a rear display supported by the head mounted support structure configured to provide visual content to an eyebox behind the head mounted support structure; a publicly viewable front display supported in front of the head mounted support structure, the publicly viewable front display having an active area including pixels configured to display an image and having a pixel-free ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the active area; a display cover layer for the front display, the display cover layer overlying the active area and overlying the ring-shaped inactive area; a ring-shaped shroud member overlying the display cover layer in the inactive area and surrounding the active area; and an optical component overlying the ring-shaped shroud member.

According to another embodiment, the optical components include a flicker sensor and an ambient light sensor.

According to another embodiment, the head mounted device includes a shroud canopy coupled to a ring-shaped shroud member, and the flicker sensor and the ambient light sensor are aligned with openings in the ring-shaped shroud member and covered by the shroud canopy.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member and the shroud canopy have through-hole openings aligned with the optical components.

According to another embodiment, the optical component includes a camera.

According to another embodiment, the optical component includes an ambient light sensor, and the ring-shaped shroud member has a recess having a coating through which the ambient light sensor measures ambient light.

According to another embodiment, the head mounted device includes a bracket under a portion of the ring-shaped shroud member, the display cover layer having a nasal bridge recess, a first optical component of the optical components attached to the bracket on one side of the nasal bridge recess, and a second optical component of the optical components attached to the bracket on an opposite side of the nasal bridge recess.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member includes a portion that is transparent at a certain wavelength, and the optical component includes an optical component that receives light of the wavelength that has passed through the portion of the ring-shaped shroud member.

According to another embodiment, the ring-shaped shroud member has a surface with a compound curvature.

According to one embodiment, a head mounted device is provided, the head mounted device including a head mounted support structure, a left lens on the left side of the head mounted support structure, a right lens on the right side of the head mounted support structure, left and right displays configured to provide left and right rear images viewable from the left and right eyeboxes through the left and right lenses, respectively, a publicly viewable display on the head mounted support structure facing away from the left and right displays, the publicly viewable display having pixels configured to display publicly viewable images and having an inactive ring shaped boundary surrounding the pixels, a display cover layer covering the publicly viewable display, and a polymer layer overlying the pixels and between the pixels and the display cover layer.

According to another embodiment, the polymer layer is separated from the pixel by an air gap.

According to another embodiment, the display cover layer is separated from the polymer layer by an air gap.

According to another embodiment, the display cover layer has inner and outer surfaces of compound curvature that overlie the pixels.

According to another embodiment, the polymer layer has a developable surface that overlies the pixel.

According to another embodiment, the head mounted device includes optical components within the inactive ring shaped boundary.

According to another embodiment, the optical component includes a camera, the display cover layer has a surface with a compound curvature in the inactive ring-shaped region, and the camera is configured to capture images in different respective directions through respective portions of the surface of the compound curvature.

According to another embodiment, the polymer layer is configured to exhibit a visible light transmittance of 30-80%.

According to another embodiment, the polymer layer has a blurred coating overlying the pixels.

The above are merely examples, and various modifications may be made to the described embodiments. The above embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Claims (20)

a head mounted support structure;
a first display and a first lens supported by the head mounted support structure and configured to provide a first image to a first eyebox;
a second display and a second lens supported by the head mounted support structure and configured to provide a second image to a second eyebox;
a front display supported on a front side of the head mounted support structure, the front display having an active area in which a third image is displayed, and a ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the active area that does not display an image, the front display having a display cover layer overlying the active area and the inactive area;
an optical component in the inactive area;
a cover structure underlying the display cover layer and overlying the non-active area;
Equipped with
A head mounted device , wherein the cover structure comprises a polymer layer separated from the display cover layer by an air gap . The head mounted device of claim 1, wherein the cover structure comprises a shroud having a shroud trim and having a shroud canopy, the shroud canopy comprising a clear polymer, the shroud trim comprising a dark polymer, the shroud canopy attached to the shroud trim with an adhesive, and the head mounted device further comprises a coating on an inner surface of the shroud canopy overlying the optical components. The head mounted device of claim 1, wherein the cover structure comprises a ring-shaped polymer structure surrounding the active area. The head mounted device of claim 3, wherein the ring-shaped polymer structure has a through-hole opening aligned with the optical component. The head mounted device of claim 3, wherein the ring-shaped polymer structure has an opening, and the head mounted device further comprises a glass member aligned with the optical component within the opening. The head mounted device of claim 3, wherein the ring-shaped polymer structure has a recess aligned with the optical component. The head mounted device of claim 6, wherein the ring-shaped polymer structure includes a first polymer member and a second polymer member attached with an adhesive, and the recess is formed by a through hole in the first polymer member. The head mounted device of claim 7, wherein the second polymer member comprises a transparent polymer that overlaps the through hole in the first polymer member. The head mounted device of claim 8, further comprising a coating on the inner surface of the transparent polymer overlying the through hole. The head mounted device of claim 9, wherein the first polymer member comprises a black polymer. a first adhesive layer configured to attach the display cover layer to the ring-shaped polymer structure;
a second adhesive having a lower melting point than the first adhesive layer, the second adhesive being configured to attach the ring-shaped polymer structure to the head mount support structure;
The head mounted device of claim 3 further comprising: The head mounted device of claim 1 , wherein the polymer layer has a surface with a compound curvature overlying the inactive area and has a developable surface overlying the active area. a head mounted support structure;
a rear display supported by the head mounted support structure and configured to provide visual content to an eyebox behind the head mounted support structure;
a publicly viewable front-facing display supported on a front side of the head mounted support structure, the publicly viewable front-facing display having an active area including pixels configured to display an image and having a pixel-free ring-shaped inactive area surrounding the active area;
a display cover layer for the front display, the display cover layer overlapping the active area and overlapping the ring-shaped inactive area;
a ring-shaped shroud member overlying the display cover layer in the non-active area and surrounding the active area;
a shroud canopy coupled to the ring-shaped shroud member, the shroud canopy overlying the active area;
an optical component having the ring-shaped shroud member superimposed thereon;
A head-mounted device comprising: The head mounted device of claim 13, wherein the optical components include a flicker sensor and an ambient light sensor. The head mounted device of claim 14 , wherein the flicker sensor and the ambient light sensor are aligned with openings in the ring-shaped shroud member and covered by the shroud canopy. the ring-shaped shroud member and the shroud canopy having through-hole openings aligned with the optical components, the optical components including a camera;
16. A head mounted device as claimed in claim 15. The head mounted device of claim 13, wherein the optical component includes an ambient light sensor, and the ring-shaped shroud member has a recess having a coating through which the ambient light sensor measures ambient light. The head mounted device of claim 13, further comprising a bracket under a portion of the ring-shaped shroud member, the display cover layer having a nasal bridge recess, a first optical component of the optical components attached to the bracket on one side of the nasal bridge recess, and a second optical component of the optical components attached to the bracket on an opposite side of the nasal bridge recess. The head mounted device of claim 13, wherein the ring-shaped shroud member includes a portion that is transparent at a certain wavelength, and the optical components include optical components that receive light of the wavelength that has passed through the portion of the ring-shaped shroud member. The head mounted device of claim 13, wherein the ring-shaped shroud member has a surface with a compound curvature.

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